3. The Blessings Received Through God’s Church (Genesis 12:5-20)

1. Throw Away Your Thoughts: Get Out of Your Country, From Your Family, and From Your Father’s House (Genesis 12:1-5)

The Lord told Abraham to get out of his country, away from his family and from his father’s house, and go to a land that God would show him. Abraham was 75 years old when this happened and it must have been really hard and difficult for him to leave the land he had been attached to whilst living there until then. It is not easy for anyone to leave their homeland that they have been living in for a long time. Especially in the old days, people did not leave their homeland unless some kind of calamity like war took place. A homeland is not only a place one is born and raised in, but is also a place like a mother’s bosom that one’s heart rests upon. Thus, humans and even wild animals yearn to return back to their homeland when they are near death, and people even bury their dead with their heads facing towards their homeland when they are unable to return to their homeland.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  [https://www.bjnewlife.org/] https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  [https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission] https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35  [https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35]

3. The Blessings Received Through God’s Church (Genesis 12:5-20)

Abraham took all his family including his nephew Lot, and all his possessions to the land of Canaan. But there were already other tribes living in this land, and these inhabitants were the descendants of Ham. Nonetheless, when Abraham reached Canaan, God appeared before him and said to him that He would give this land to him and all his descendants. Whenever Abraham arrived at a strange place, the first thing he did was to build an altar and offer up a sacrifice to God. He always offered up a sacrifice of faith first.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  [https://www.bjnewlife.org/] https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  [https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission] https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35  [https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35]

2. The Faith of the Altar of The Burnt Offering (Genesis 12:1-9)

The Old Testament progresses from the period of Adam, to the period of Noah, to the period of Shem, and the period of Abraham comes after the period of Shem. Chapter twelve of the Book of Genesis describes the period of Abraham. God had thus appointed the leaders for His people and showed His will through its leaders. And when a leader was about to die, God appointed another leader for them and led them by faith as his predecessor had done.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  [https://www.bjnewlife.org/] https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  [https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission] https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35  [https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35]

5. You Should Recognize God’s Church (Genesis 12:10-20)

In today’s Scripture passage we read how God speaks about the genuine faith over God’s Church. Abraham obeyed the Word of God and left his country with his wife and nephew Lot, away from his family and his father’s house. But while they were dwelling in the land of Canaan, they experienced a great famine in that land. So he came to a situation where he had no other alternative but to take his family and all his possessions and go down to the land of Egypt.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  [https://www.bjnewlife.org/] https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  [https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission] https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35  [https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35]

4. Those Who Stand by Faith Genesis 12:10-20)

People often think that the fathers of faith such as Abraham and Moses in the Old Testament, and the Apostles of Jesus in the New Testament were completely upright without any blemish. They think that these men of faith were very special people, very different from ordinary people, and therefore it was naturally not easy for them to walk in the same way of such a faith throughout their lives. When we read a biography of someone famous, it’s often filled with nothing but praise, saying that this person had no human shortcomings, made a lot of contributions, and was an extraordinary person. For instance, there is a biography of Admiral Yi Sunshin, who through his patriotic activities rescued Korea from the Japanese invasion of 1592. So his biographer wrote, “From his early childhood, Admiral Yi showed promise that he was going to be a great figure. He was skilled at sword fighting, a filial son to his parents, and loyal to his country. So later on when he became a great admiral, he delivered Korea from the hands of the Japanese invaders. He had all the hallmarks of a great man from his early childhood.” The point is that Admiral Yi was distinguished from ordinary people from his early childhood as a nearly perfect man. The same is true for other biographies.   https://www.bjnewlife.org/  [https://www.bjnewlife.org/] https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission  [https://youtube.com/@TheNewLifeMission] https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35  [https://www.facebook.com/shin.john.35]